Genius
by WhisefoohL
Summary: After an incident that lands Danny in the hospital, he's having a hard time regaining everyone's trust. all reviews are appreciated, if you feel so inclined.
1. Chapter 1

Genius

"Messer, my office," Mac said. Mac had just witnessed a sure sign that Danny wasn't fit to work today: he had just snapped at Lindsay.

"What?" Danny said, walking in behind Mac.

"Are you okay? You've been short with everyone lately." Mac said, sitting down. "Is there something you want to talk about?" Danny sat down in the other chair.

"No, I'm fine. I just haven't slept lately." Mac looked intently at him. "Really, I'm fine." He stood up, but fell back down, his knees giving out beneath him.

"Danny?" Mac stood up and walked over.

"What?" Danny successfully stood up, and started out the door.

"Have you been taking care of yourself? Eating, sleeping?" Mac turned him around and held him there.

"Yes." He said. Just then, Lindsay came up.

"Danny? Are you okay?" she asked. Danny spun around to see her standing in the door way.

"Yeah. Hey, I'm sorry about earlier. I was out of line." He said. Mac shook his head as Danny walked away.

"Is he really okay? He's seemed really tired lately." Lindsay asked.

"I don't know. If I have to confront him one more time, he's going home. Mac said.

"I'll keep an eye on him." She said, leaving the room.

Flack walked into the break room and found Danny out cold on the couch. If Mac caught him asleep while he was clocked in, he wouldn't be very pleased. He put some coffee on, and sad at the table, looking at Danny, deciding how he would go about waking him up. He had an opportunity to have some fun with this.

"Flack?" Danny had woken up. Flack sighed, because he'd missed his chance.

"Hey. Want some coffee?" he offered. He walked over to the counter and poured him self some.

"No thanks. I'm still waiting for my three other cups to kick in." he stood up, but fell again, the blood rushing to his head. This time he fell forward though. Flack ran forward and managed to catch him before he hit the table.

"What was that?" he asked, pushing Danny back onto his feet.

"I'm fine." Danny grabbed his stuff and walked past Flack and out the door. Flack had the same sort of reaction as Danny was walking away as Mac had had earlier.

As Danny was walking down the hall, he realized just how tired he was. He stopped and leaned back against the wall to think. It would be great if he could go home and sleep, but what were the chances of that?

"Danny, What's up? I've seen people fall asleep while they were already sitting down, but never while they were walking down the hall." Mac walked up, smiling.

"Im not asleep, I was just thinking that I might want to go home and sleep." He said, hoping that his boss would agree.

"I was just coming to give you the rest of the day off. You're no good to me like this." He said. Danny nodded in thanks and went to punch out.

Sorry about the short chapter, but I just remembered that I have to study for a Geometry test. The rest is already written out, so that means fast updates! All reviews are appreciated if you feel so inclined.


	2. Chapter 2

a/n: thanks for all the reviews. Enjoy, and remember to review!

Chapter 2

When Danny was getting into his car, he had a sudden fear that he would fall asleep at the wheel. Quickly pushing that thought out of his head, he cranked up the radio.

He turned off his cell phone; if he was going to get the day off, why risk getting called back. He parked his car in front of his building and made his way up to his apartment. His place wasn't anything special, but he liked it. In truth, it was only a room with everything from a bed to pots and pans. The only other door other than the one from the hall was a door to a bathroom.

Unlocking the door, he walked in and turned on the TV. It was 10 am, nothing was on at 10. He turned the TV back off and walked over to the kitchen area. Opening the cabinet, he pulled out a box of 'Captain Crunch'. Not even bothering to get a bowl, he plopped on to his bed.

It was too quiet, so he reached over and turned on his radio. Have you ever been to the point where you're so tired, you can't get to sleep, can't stop moving? That's exactly where Danny was. 'Dang that coffee. Just starting to kick in when I want to get to sleep. He rolled out of bed and walked into the bathroom.

"Opening the medicine cabinet, he pulled out some sleeping pills. Then he walked out and over to the fridge. He pulled out a beer and closed the door. Without bothering to look at the directions, he poured out what was left of the pill bottle and downed them with a swig of the beer.

Immediately feeling the effects, he climbed back into bed. The good news was that the pills worked. He was out before his head hit the pillow.

Back at the lab, it was business as usual. Lindsay and Stella were off at a crime scene, and Sheldon and Mac were going over some evidence in the briefing room.

"So, what's been up with Danny lately? I hear you sent him home," Sheldon asked, putting down the case file.

"He's been working really hard lately. He's just tired," he said. Picking up his cell phone. "I'm going to try calling him, to make sure he got home."

He dialed his cell phone. No answer. Then he tried his home phone.

Danny woke with a start. His head was pounding and the phone was ringing. Rolling out of bed, he answered the phone. "Yeah?" his voice was all scratchy.

"Danny, its Mac. You alright?" He asked.

"Yeah. Sorry, I just woke up." Danny said. As soon as he said that, a sharp pain shot through his stomach.

"Apparently, there was an audible expression of his pain because Mac said, "Danny, what was that?"

"I don't know. It feels like I just got knifed un the gut." Danny said, breathing heavy.

"Are you alright?" he asked again.

"I don't know. Yeah I'm fine." Danny said, not sure if he believed himself. "I gotta go, I've got another call." He lied. He clicked off the phone.

Sheldon looked at Mac warily, "Is he okay?" he asked.

"I don't know. I think I'm gonna stop by his apartment. You want to come with?" he stood up from his chair.

"Sure." Sheldon followed him out of the room. They drove to his apartment and got out of the car.

Danny had collapsed onto the floor, the stabbing pain back with a wave of dizziness. He began coughing, and couldn't stop. The racking coughs getting more and more painful.

Mac and Sheldon made their way up to the apartment. "It's this one, right?" Sheldon gestured towards a room on the left.

"Yeah." Mac knocked on the door. When there was no answer, he tested the knob to see if by chance it was unlocked. Luckily, it was. Mac didn't want to have to kick it down.

Danny was laying on his side by the phone, moaning. The coughing had stopped, but he was shaking hard. Sheldon ran over and knelt next to him. "Danny?" he asked, rolling him onto his back.

He cried out in pain at the sudden movement. "What hurts Danny?" Mac knelt on the other side of him. "Is it still your stomach?" Sheldon heard this and pressed two fingers into Danny's stomach, to check for swelling of any sort. This caused Danny to clench his teeth and groan. "I know it hurts. I need you to hold still." Sheldon said, standing up. "We should get him onto the bed."

Mac nodded and helped Sheldon slowly lift him off the floor, and onto the bed. Danny didn't like this. The movement made him feel like his stomach was going to rip itself out. From the inside.

The move from the floor to the bed had started up the coughing again. This time it was worse. About the second round of coughs, there was a funny taste in his mouth. He coughed one more time and blood spewed out of his throat.

Sheldon reached out to roll him onto his side, so he wouldn't choke on the blood. Mac ran into the bathroom and grabbed a towel.

"Are you still with me?" Sheldon asked, positioning the towel Mac had brought under Danny's chin to catch any more blood. Danny nodded, grimacing as he felt another cough coming. This one wasn't as bad, but bad enough to hurt like heck. His throat was burning like none other.

"Did you call 991 already?" Sheldon asked Mac.

"Yeah, they should be here soon." He reached forward and wiped some blood off the corner of Danny's mouth. "He's burning up." He said, resting his hand on Danny's forehead.

Danny started shaking more all over. Then, it elevated to thrashing from side to side, never holding still. Mac positioned himself so that Danny was leaning back against him so that he could attempt to prevent Danny from hurting himself.

Mac had such a tight grip on him, his knuckles were white. Eventually, the thrashing stopped and he was able to let go.

"Sheldon, could you get some water, and then see if the ambulance is here?" Mac asked, allowing himself to relax because Danny was peacefully resting at the moment.

Sheldon walked over to the kitchen and looked for a glass. In his search, he came across two interesting things: one, an empty pill bottle, and two, a half empty bottle beer right next to it.

a/n: I forgot to say that I don't own CSI NY in the last chapter, so here goes; I don't own CSI NY. I'm going to Wash. DC and New York for a week, so it'll be a while before another update. Sorry. I would type up the rest, but I have to pack since I procrastinated it till the night before we leave.


	3. Chapter 3

a/n: Once again, CSI NY isn't mine. Well, I finished packing so I'll try to get the rest up tonight. Remember, if you feel so inclined, all reviews are appreciated! Lol I sound important when I say that!

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Chapter 3

"Mac, look at this." Sheldon held up the beer and pill bottle. Sheldon walked over to the bed with the water he'd found.

"Genius Danny, great idea you had there." Mac said, lifting Danny off him and standing up. Danny, who had been still for a while, began to stir.

"I'll go look for the ambulance." Mac left the room. Danny, who had been still for a while, began to stir again.

"Hey," he said, hoarsely.

"Danny, how many pills did you take?" he just shrugged and tried to turn away. Sheldon stood up from the chair by the bed. "Danny." He warned.

"A hand full," he whispered

"And you chased them with the beer?" Sheldon asked, shaking his head in awe at the stupidity Danny was showing.

Danny nodded and closed his eyes, the pain returning. Just then, Mac returned with paramedics.

Sheldon and Mac stepped out of the way to allow the paramedics to transfer Danny onto the stretcher. As the paramedics carried him out of the room, Mac walked over to talk to Sheldon.

"So, did he really take the whole bottle?" he asked.

"Yeah, he chased it with the beer too," he answered. "I don't think this was intentional. My theory is that he's been taking the sleeping medication for a while, but then they stopped affecting him like they used to. He was so tired today; he probably decided that the only way to get to sleep was to do this."

Mac nodded. "I agree. I don't think we have to worry about a suicide attempt. Just hope that he learned his lesson this time." He headed towards the door. "We should go follow the ambulance to the hospital. Do you want to call Lindsay and Stella?"

"Yeah." He pulled out his cell phone. They walked down to the car and drove to the hospital.

"Monroe," Lindsay answered her phone.

"Hey, it's Sheldon. Danny's on the way to the hospital. Do you want to get everyone else to meet us there?"

"Oh my gosh, I'll get everyone else and meet you there?" she asked. She hung up the phone just as Sheldon and Mac arrived at the ER.

By the time they got in the doors, Danny was already being brought into a room. Now, all they could do is wait. After about 20 minutes, Flack walked in the room, followed by Lindsay and Stella.

"Hey, have you heard anything?" Lindsay asked, rushing over.

"No, they're still working on him," Sheldon answered. Stella walked over and sat down next to Mac.

"What happened, anyways?" she asked.

"He went home, and chased a bottle of sleeping pills with a bottle of beer," Mac explained.

"Genius. I didn't know he was such an idiot," Flack said, standing up. "Do you think it was a suicide attempt?"

"No, I think that the pills stopped working, and he was so tired, he thought the only way of getting some shut eye was to do this," Sheldon explained. He looked over at where Lindsay was sitting, her face buried in her hands. "He's gonna pull through, you know. He's got Staten Island roots. Not as tough as us Harlem kids, but he's still tough." He said, attempting to lighten the mood.

Stella went over to comfort her. Lindsay and Danny had become close, despite rocky beginning with her replacing Aiden and all. "Why did he have to go and do this?" Lindsay asked when Stella sat down next to her.

"Because he's an idiot," Flack said, who was just as close to Danny as Lindsay had come to be. "He's not getting away with this. He's gonna hear from me."

Just then, a doctor came out taking his gloves off.

"How is he?" Lindsay stood up and walked over to where he was standing. Flack and Mac soon followed, leaving Sheldon and Stella back at the chairs.

"He's stable. We had to put a tube down his throat so he could breathe. His throat was shredded and it began to swell. We have him on something for the pain. Other than that, all we can do is wait for the drugs to wear off." He explained.

"Can we see him?" Mac asked.

"Two at a time. He's still out, but he should wake up any time," he said. Mac looked over at Lindsay.

"Lindsay and I will go talk to him first," he said, following the doctor down the hall to Danny's room. Walking in, they observed that Danny had not yet awoken, and that he was still very pale.

"I'll leave you guys alone," the doctor exited the room, leaving Mac and Lindsay alone with an unconscious Danny.

"Why did he do this?" Lindsay asked, the question directed at no one imparticular. She walked over to the bed and put her hand on Danny's.

Just then, Danny began to stir. He gagged back a cough when he realized ther was a tube down his throat. Lindsay tried to calm him down. "Danny, you're in a hostital. They had to put a tube down your throat because you couldn't breath." She tried to soothe him. He nodded.

The doctor walked in when he saw Danny had woken up. "I think we can remove the tube now. That should be a little more comfortable for you." He walked over to the bed. "We're gonna lift you into an upright position. Then, when I tell you, you need to cough. That will make it easier to remove the tube." He explained. Once again, Danny nodded. The doctor lifted him into a sitting position, and had Mac hold him there, so he could maneuver around to the other side of the bed.

"Okay Danny, cough and we'll get this out." He said. Danny complied, and the doc proceded in sliding the tube out of his throat.

"Good. Want some water?" he asked.

"Yeah," Danny attempted to say, though it came out in barely more than a whisper.

"I'll get it," Lindsay walked over to the sink and filled up one of the little plastic cups with water. After Danny drank it, he laid his head back onto the pillow.

"So, how are you guys?" Danny asked.

"We should be asking you. You gave us quite a scare back there." Mac said. Danny smiled sheepishly.

"Yeah, sorry about that." Danny said. "Hey Montana! How nice of you to stop by." He said, changing the subject.

"Danny stop! You know how serious this is. You could have killed your self." She said harshly.

"Lindsay, give me a moment will you?" Mac asked. She nodded and left the room.

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More on the way! i promise! thanks for all zee reviews. oh, and im sorry about the whole 991 thing, i totaly wasn't even paying attention when i was typing! thanks for pointing it out. 


	4. Chapter 4

a/n: hey, thanks for all the reviews! It's the most I've ever gotten on a fic. YAY!

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Chapter 4

Danny was silent, knowing there was a lecture coming. He may even get fired. Which would suck, because he was just starting to enjoy work since Aiden left. He thought he would get a break from all this drama when Flack walked in, but he was wrong.

"Danny, you're an idiot." He should have known Flack wouldn't let this one slide. Nope, he was getting a full fledged scolding. If the tables were turned, and it was Flack in the bed, not him, Danny probably would do the same thing.

"What the heck did you do?" Flack asked.

"I took some sleeping pills." He said. This comment made Flack angrier at his friend than before.

"It's more than that, Danny. You took the whole bottle, with a beer," Mac joined the conversation, before Flack could say something he'd regret. Mac was losing his patience.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking." Danny said angrily.

"How long has this been going on Danny?" Mac asked, calming down slightly. Danny rolled his eyes.

"Just this one time," he said.

"For some reason, I'm not sure that is so true," Mac said, warning in his eyes. "You need to tell the truth."

"I haven't been sleeping well lately. I've been having some personal issues, and, it was getting worse. I haven't slept in weeks," he explained, hoping that was enough for his boss to get off his back. Then, his mouth got the better of him; "Since when did you care about me anyways?"

"I hired you, despite being warned strongly against it. I chose you especially for this team, and this isn't the first conversation we've had like this," he said, knowing Danny knew this as well. "I don't know what to do. I've warned you that we wouldn't have another conversation like this, and we are. I'm beginning to think you need a break."

"Please don't. I made a mistake, a big mistake, and I'm sorry," he begged, going against all his gut was telling him. Something about begging just felt wrong. It's against his moral standard.

Mac didn't know what to say to this. He had never seen Danny ask him for anything. "Danny, it's gonna be very hard to regain any trust from any one. You'll have to work really hard to keep your job, and begging wont work next time, I promise you."

Danny winced slightly at the fact that he had to beg for his job. Flack was standing by the door, watching this little exchange of words. "Hey, Mac, maybe we should leave so the rest of the team can see him." The doctor came in though, followed by Stella, Sheldon, and Lindsay.

"That wont be necessary, if he can fight like that to keep his job, he can talk to more than two people at a time." He exited the room, leaving them alone.

Stella walked up to where Mac was standing. "Hey there. Glad to see you're okay," she said, smiling.

"Me too," Sheldon walked closer, smiling with his mouth, but not his eyes. His eyes on the other hand showed sadness. Danny was going to have a difficult time getting over this.

"Thanks. It's kinda weird having five people in one place that care about me like this," he said.

"Yeah, feel the love." Flack said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. Despite the snide comment, he was smiling, eyes and all. "Hey, feel better man. I got somewhere to go."

"A date?" Danny asked curiously.

"Yes a date. With a very beautiful woman. Much better than you could ever get," Flack answered.

"I wouldn't count on that," Danny said as Flack was walking out the door.

"Well, I think we all better leave. You need your sleep." Stella said, ushering everyone out the door.

Once they were all gone, Danny was left alone. Ironically, he fell asleep right away.

Two weeks later, Danny had made a full recovery. He tried to act as normal as possible, but it was hard with Mac breathing down his neck all day. Everyone else at least pretended they forgave him.

This particular day, he was working a case with Mac. He'd been working a lot of cases with Mac lately, so he could keep an eye on him. Danny was convinced that he wanted him out, and was just waiting for a chance to nail him.

"Looks like blunt force trauma, see the abrasion on her forhead, and another on the back of her neck?" Danny pointed out.

"Yeah. Do you see anything that could be the murder weapon?" he asked, looking around.

Danny scanned the room, and didn't see anything until his eyes cought sight of a statue in the corner of the room. He stood up and walked over to it. "Hey Mac, look at this," he said, picking it up carefully.

"Bag it," Mac said. I'll process the body, can you get the rest of the room?" he asked.

"Yeah boss." He walked over to a blood spatter pattern on the wall. He took a picture of it and took out a swab. Taking a sample of the blood, he looked back down at the body, trying to get a feel for how this went down. Playing it out in his head, he realized that she was standing still when this went down, because there were identical blood spatters on three of the other walls. "How does this work out?" he asked.

"What?" Mac stood up and walked over to where Danny was standing.

"Why would, if the victim was standing still, but she was hit from three different angles?" he asked. "Why would the killer move around, if she wasn't?"

"Maybe there were three objects, and three people carrying those objects, that caused the abrasions," he ventured. He walked back over to the body. "There are hand prints on her neck, and bruises all down her arms. She was being held still, while three other men smashed her head in. I think you may have just put a whole new light on this case, Messer."

'Wow, a compliment from Mac' he thought. "Okay, I'll go process this DNA. You got the rest of the room?" Danny asked.

"Yeah. I got it." Mac said. Danny walked out side the house, and drove back to the lab.

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	5. Chapter 5

a/n: sry bout the wait, I've been busy, and to tell you the truth, I've dreaded typing the rest up. But anyhoo, here's the next chappie.

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Chapter 5

It took three days to solve the murder. Talking to neighbors, they concluded that there were three men who had a bone to pick with the vic, a Samantha Olburt. Flack brought in said men, and after interrogation, they all fessed up to the murder. This, along with three other cases passed through the NY Crime Lab, but it wasn't getting any easier for Danny to re-adjust.

"Hey Danny, I was wondering…Stella, Sheldon, Mac, and I are going out for dinner, you wanna come?" Lindsay walked in to where Danny was filing some last minute papers. Lindsay had been the best at pretending nothing happened, apart from the lecture she gave at the hospital.

"Yeah. Flack coming?" Danny asked. If Flack came it would be three on his side, and three on the opposing.

"I think so. We're going right now. Come on," Lindsay ushered Danny out of the room and down the stairs to where the rest of the crew were standing by the door.

"Hey Danny," Stella greeted.

"Where are we going?" he asked.

"Lombardi's. You heard of it?" Flack asked. "They've got pizza and Italian food." He added.

"Yeah, I've heard of it." They left the building and walked to the car. The car turned out to be a bit snug, but snugness was a better option than trying to get two cars around in New York City. Mac drove, Stella rode shotgun, and Lindsay, being the shortest one there, was chosen to ride center in the front. In the back seat, Danny was ruled the shortest, and thus, rode between Flack and Sheldon.

When they arrived at the restaurant, they surprisingly got a seat with minimal waiting. "Should we get a pizza to share?" Lindsay asked.

"Nah, I think I'll get the shrimp pasta. You can get a pizza though," Danny said, looking over the menu.

"Lindsay and I'll split a medium pizza, and you guys can get what you want," Flack said. Just then, the waitress came up.

"What can I get you guys?" she asked.

"I'll have this shrimp pasta," Danny said.

"We'll split this pizza number 3. Medium," Flack ordered for Lindsay and himself.

"And you?" she gestured towards Mac.

"I think we'll split this pasta meal, the one with the salad and breadsticks," he said.

"I'll have those right out to you," she left to put the order in to the kitchen. Everyone was quiet.

"Lindsay, how's the family back in Montana?" Stella asked.

"They're good. My dad found a replacement for me on the ranch," she said, feeling odd talking about this.

"You had a ranch? That's cool. Did you have horses and stuff?" Danny asked, smiling.

"Actually, yes. Mine was named Star. She was a good barrel racer. Well, this subject is rather boring. What about you Danny? Tell me about your family." She said. If she had to talk about her horse, Danny wasn't gonna get away with not saying anything.

"Well, My parents still live in Staten Island, where I grew up. My brother is still around here somewhere. I haven't talked to him in a while. My sister moved to Soho, in Manhatten. She's always been into that artsy stuff," he said.

"I'd like to meet her." Stella said. "Ah, here it comes." The waitress was walking up with the food.

"Here you go," she set the plates in front of them one by one. They ate in silence. Danny soon finished his pasta, and moved onto the pizza that he didn't want earlier.

"Stop it, you had your chance at pizza, but you didn't want it!" Lindsay slapped his hand when he wanted to reach for a second piece.

"Okay, okay," he said, laughing. Once they had eaten and paid, they headed out the door and back to the car. Flack had so immaturely called 'same seats' to Danny and Lindsay's disappointment, so they were still stuck in the middle.

"Hey, Mac? Could you drop me off at the next subway station? It'll save me from having to walk up to one," Danny asked.

"Sure. First, I'd like to say something though. I know it's been hard, but I'm glad you're back Danny. You really mean a lot to us," he said.

"Thanks…" Danny said. This was the oddest thing he'd heard his boss ever say. Stella laughed at his uncertainty.

"It's true Danny, if you weren't here, where would we get money to have dinner like this!" She said.

"What do you mean?" Danny asked, his eyes narrowing suspiciously.

"We're taking the bill out of your next paycheck. I thought you knew that. Flack was supposed to tell you." Lindsay said.

Danny laughed, figuring out the joke. "Ha ha guys." Mac stopped pulled over and Danny attempted to climb over Lindsay to get out the door. Lindsay, feeling spiteful, pushed him the rest of the way.

"Oops, sorry," she said, as she slammed the door shut. Mac laughed and drove off.

As Danny made his way to the platform, he thought about the night. How his friends seemed to have forgiven him, and things were gonna be better than they were even before this all happened.

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END

this takes place before RSRD, so Danny is still having brother issues. anyhoo, i hope you enjoyed the last chapter of my story. Review please!


	6. Chapter 6

a/n: you guys have guilted me into finishing this story the right, what with the loose ends and all. This is all pre RSRW, but post TW.

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Chapter 6

"Danny, I need to talk to you," Mac said, when Danny walked into the room where he was working.

"Yeah boss," Danny walked over to where Mac was standing.

"You do know that you still need to go in for a psych eval. Right?" Mac said. Danny, who had thought that he was off the hook about that, was disappointed.

"Oh, yeah, sorry about that." Danny said. "I thought that we were good though. I don't really need to go, since it's been so long?" Danny hated talking about all that stupid personal crap. He also hated shrinks.

"You still need to go. Just do it, please. I don't want to have to force you," Mac warned.

"Yeah, boss," Danny turned and walked away.

"Danny Messer, how are you?" Dr. Kippling asked.

"Fine, how are you?" Danny asked. He would rather be almost anywhere but where he was right now.

"I'm fine. I know it's been a while, but can you tell me about the incident?" Dr. Kippling asked.

"Yeah, when I got home from work, I was really tired. I hadn't been able to sleep, so I accidentally almost killed my self," Danny said.

"Is there any specific reason why you haven't been sleeping?"

"I don't know. There've been family issues. I can't really get into it though. Circle of trust, you know?" Danny said. "It's one of those secret things." He did not intend to open up at all to this shrink.

"Oh, is that it?" Dr. Kippling asked.

"Umm, my past has been getting to me lately. Stuff coming up that I had hoped to forget for the rest of my life." This is where Danny will draw the line. This shrink won't get anything else today.

"Would it by anychance have anything to do with the Tanglewood Boys? I read in your file that you had affiliation with them."

"First off, it wasn't _affiliation. _We played baseball, and that's it. Second," he got quieter, "Yes. I keep getting calls from them. Saying crap about my family. Stupid rumors." So much for drawing the line. He'd already said too much.

"Like what? Threats?" he asked. He was clearly pleased to have broken through Danny's little barrier.

"No, just stories about my family, meant to freak me out. They obviously succeeded. One of these stories was that my parents had been murdered, and another was that my brother had tried to get out of the Tanglewood Boys, and they killed him. Stupid stories like that."

"I see. When was the last call?" Dr. Kippling asked.

"A month ago," Danny said. "Well, we've found the root of my problems. Can I leave now?" Danny asked.

"Sure. Tell someone if they start bothering you again." Dr. Kippling stood up, and Danny did likewise. They shook hands and Danny walked out the door.

Danny walked down to Mac's office so he could tell him that it was over with. He knocked on the door, and when Mac signaled to come in, he did. "I talked with the shrink. Can we forget about this whole thing now?"

"Yes, as long as you keep your nose clean. People will be watching you now, be careful what you do." Mac said.

"Yeah boss." Danny left the room and went home, leaving this whole situation behind him, once and for all.

Finite


End file.
